The cake is a lie
by silvermyth
Summary: There's nothing sweet about working at Minnie's Bakery. It's a combination of retail and food service, with the usual run of cranky customers, and a manager who's over-critical and overly creepy in turns. It's really not Roxas's day, but that's nothing unusual. What is unusual is what's waiting for him at the end of the day, a spark of light at the end of the tunnel. Written for Ta


**A/N:** This is heavily based off of my previous job at a bakery. Pray you never have to work in such a hellish environment. None of this is exaggerated, sadly.

If you face sexual harassment in the workplace (any behavior that makes you uncomfortable, for that matter), please report it.

 **The cake is a lie**

"Roxas." Xigbar's sharp voice cut through the kitchen only a moment after he stepped through the back door, sending Roxas's stomach plummeting. "Come see me after you clock in."

Roxas hadn't had a pleasant start to his day. It was one of those hot, rainy days, with humidity so thick that he'd broken into a sweat as soon as he'd left the comfort of his air-conditioned room. His shower had been useless, the water tepid, and he hadn't felt dry since. The inclement weather meant skateboarding to work was out of the question, so he'd caught the subway. It was noisy and crowded, a cacophony of commuters and students, most of whom had no concept of keeping their business to themselves, so that he heard them even through his earbuds.

The mall that housed his work—a bakery—had air conditioning that dated back to the seventies, and was fraught with all the issues that came with that fact. When it worked—which wasn't even close to one hundred percent of the time—it did little to combat dry heat. Confronted with humidity, Roxas knew he'd be facing a day of discomfort at best, and at worst, courting heat sickness. The employee locker room—if the dingy closet space could be called that—was already littered with his coworkers' things, with the added bonus of a mouse rummaging in the corners, and a cockroach the that scurried away when he hit the lights. But there wasn't space for his book bag in the store, and his work uniform was too hot to wear—ever, really, but he had no choice but to don the heavy pink polo and the black visor.

Not that this was an atypical start to his day. Since he'd started working at Minnie's Bakery, his work days had been less than ideal, but the pay wasn't awful. And then he'd been promoted to shift manager, with benefits and better pay, and it hadn't been bad.

At first.

Xigbar, the head baker and store manager had been nice to him when he was just a regular wage worker, and even as Saix trained him for his manager position. Supportive, even.

But by now Roxas knew those words Xigbar had uttered meant there'd been a problem. It didn't matter if it was actually a problem that was Roxas's fault or not, Roxas was the one who would get blamed. So with a sigh, Roxas tied his apron, clocked in, and approached Xigbar's bench. He caught a sympathetic look from Namine, decorating a cake across the aisle.

"Hey Roxy, how you doing today?"

Roxas kept his face neutral, not buying Xigbar's saccharine tone. "You know. Could do without the heat."

Xigbar smirked. "At least you ain't working next to this hot oven, yeah?" Roxas nodded, waiting for Xigbar to get to the point. "You closed last night, right?"

Roxas tried not to roll his eyes. It should've been a rhetorical question, but Xigbar expected an answer. "Yes."

Xigbar narrowed his eyes. "So, what'd you do to the radio? I can't get it to come on now."

This again. This time Roxas did roll his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's just the volume. It takes a second to turn it back up." Xigbar had gotten angry over the satellite radio ever since Xemnas had provided it for them. Probably because he couldn't figure out how to work it.

"That's not the point." There was a thread of irritation in his voice. "How many times do I have to tell you not to touch it? If something happens to it cause you were messing with it, you'll be responsible."

"Look, I can't concentrate on counting the drawers with that _noise_ blaring, okay?"

Xigbar glared at him a moment longer, then shook his head. "Well fix it. And when you go out front, send Xion on break."

Roxas shrugged and turned to follow the order. The radio was situated on a shelf over the door of a walk-in cooler, so he had to retrieve a step ladder in order to reach it, and even then had to stretch a little. A simple turn of the knob, and a commercial for "I Heart Radio" was audible over the speakers, followed by a generic pop song. Roxas wanted to gouge his ears out already.

"Red today, huh?" Xigbar's tone was amused, now, and Roxas scowled as he climbed down the step ladder. Once his feet were on solid ground again, he jerked his shirt down to cover the waistband of his boxers, his face pink with irritation.

At least he didn't have to look at Xigbar's face constantly once he walked out the double doors to the storefront. Not that that was much consolation—Xigbar would find ways to bother Roxas, one way or another, and even if he didn't, Roxas still had to deal with…well.

There was a crowd ranged in front of the display already, Roxas's staff for the day calling numbers in turn. A woman protested that she didn't have a number, and that she'd been already waiting for ten minutes—Roxas doubted that—and snapped when Olette kindly told her she would still have to pull a number. Roxas ignored it as he unlocked his till and counted out the drawer.

He eyed the crowd again as he closed the drawer. Xigbar had said to send Xion on break, but they had to thin out the people, first. Roxas glanced up at the display and called the next number. He made it through two customers—the counter was still thronged with people—before Xigbar burst through the doors, sending a glare at Roxas. "I told you to send Xion on break!" Amber eyes lit on Xion. "Xion!" He jerked his thumb at the doors. "Break! Roxas, see me after that customer!"

The day went on like that. Every time Roxas made a decision—he was in every right to make decisions for the shift—Xigbar would undermine him. When Roxas deferred a decision, Xigbar would scoff. "Roxas, how long have you been working here? Can't you figure the answer out on your own?"

At one point, Larxene called him back from the cake bench. "What's this mean?" She pointed to a cake order Roxas had taken more than a week ago. He stared at his writing, the instructions in very clear block letters, and attached, a reference picture.

He pointed at the picture. "So, she wants this, but in the colors I wrote down. And instead of the three tiers pictured, she only wants two." It took a lot of effort to keep the sarcasm out of his voice when the instructions were so clear.

"Roxas, this is a complicated design! You only charged them one-twenty? That's not enough." Larxene's voice was rising, and she was pointing a finger at his chest.

Roxas put his palms up in an appeasing gesture. "I was just going by Xemnas's price sheet, alright?"

Larxene gave him another scathing look before shaking her head. "Alright, but I'm going to bring this up with the boss. This is way too much work for this price." Another glance down at the order form, and she spun on her heel, stalking to the other room.

"She just doesn't want to do the extra work." Namine's voice was soft, but Roxas heard her and looked over. She was frowning.

Roxas shrugged. "No matter what I do, if I'm right or wrong, I'm still wrong."

Namine offered a sympathetic smile. "They expect a lot out of you."

"Roxas!" Olette poked her head into the back. "There's a lady here that wants to speak with a manager."

Roxas nodded. "I'll be right there." He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. It was never ending, one thing after another. But he didn't have time to really calm himself, because an angry customer would only grow angrier if they were kept waiting. He tried to stay in a zen place as he moved to address the customer. She was yelling something about her cake. Roxas wanted to tell her where she could put her cake, but instead he kept his voice level.

One more crisis averted, and he was able to breathe, if only for a little while. A tiny breath, and he made his way to the computer to check the store emails. He had just enough time to open the browser before he heard Xigbar's voice again.

"Come here, Roxas, I gotta talk to you."

Sometimes Roxas wondered how the bakery would get by without him there. Who Xigbar would focus his attentions on, and if Hayner and Saix could field the complaints that Roxas usually handled.

"How'd it go with that customer?" Xigbar's demeanor was back to being friendly, and he slung an arm across Roxas's back. Perhaps too friendly, Roxas thought, as the man stroked his back. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Fine. Namine fixed the cake and I gave her a few danishes while she waited." Roxas tried to pull away, but Xigbar's arm was firm around his waist now.

"Good, good. Is it a good time to take your break right now?"

Roxas nodded. "Yeah, it's not too busy out there."

"Alright, go on and take your break now. You can count Olette's drawer when you get back." He finally drew his arm away, but not before patting Roxas's back one more time.

Xigbar was careful, Roxas thought as he clocked out for his break. Xigbar never did anything _explicitly_ sexual, just those lingering touches, and the occasional questionably innocent comment. It was probably sexual harassment, but Xigbar kept himself just in check enough that it would be hard to pin him down on it.

Roxas glanced at his watch and frowned. It was still too early to expect _him_ , but he still kept an eye out for a flash of red in the crowd. He somehow managed to choke down his frozen dinner and read a chapter in his novel in the short half hour of his break. No sign of distinguishing red. Not that Roxas could blame him. He didn't want to be in this mall a second longer than was actually required.

The second half of his shift was better, especially once Xigbar finally made his leave for the day. With the ovens off, the heat was a fraction more bearable. With Xigbar gone, well, it was more like seventy-five percent more bearable. Pence arrived for the closing shift, and between them and Hayner, the store was running like a well-oiled machine. Even the customers were bearable in their company, and if one of them popped a cookie in their mouth here and there, none of them said anything.

"Hey blondie." The low voice pulled Roxas away from the store emails. Set his heart beating faster.

"Hey." He hoped his voice didn't come out in a squeak. "The usual?"

Axel shifted on his lanky frame. "Yeah. A sprinkle cupcake."

Roxas smirked. "Someday I'm going to convince you to change it up a bit."

A half-grin from his favorite customer. "Maybe. These are so good, though."

"Yeah, I guess." Roxas secure a cupcake in wax paper and placed it carefully in a bag. As quickly as he'd grabbed the first one, he grabbed a second and nestled it in with the first. He'd been doing it for the better part of a month now, slipping Axel an extra cupcake. Roxas leaned against the case as he accepted payment. "Uhm so." Red eyebrows crept up in expectation. "What are you doing after work?"

Axel's lips twitched. "Nothing in particular."

Roxas looked down at his hands. "Well, we could hang out."

"I'd like that." Roxas couldn't bring himself to look up at the owner of that sultry, seductive voice. "I'll wait for you, if you like."

"Yeah."

"I gotta get back now, so talk to you then?"

"Mhmm." Roxas finally looked up, watching as Axel strode off with a wave.

"Dude, you've got it bad." Hayner's voice startled Roxas from his reverie. "You're practically glowing."

Roxas shot him a dark look, but he could feel he heat creeping up his neck. "Shut up."

Hayner cackled, and he and Pence spent the rest of the night taking turns to tease him. Roxas focused extra hard on the closing duties. Partly to ignore them, but partly to get the store closed early. The mall closed at seven, but even if everything went smoothly, he was bound to be there until eight, at least, and he hoped that Axel would be patient.

Of course, things never went smoothly when you wanted them to, and a last minute rush of customers delayed them. Hayner cursed and Pence rolled with the punches, and Roxas seethed internally as the clock ticked to eight, and then past. By nine, he wondered if Axel would still be waiting. It was a long time to wait past closing.

There was no tell-tale sign of red when he made his way to the employee locker alone.

Roxas sighed. It was too much to expect, for him to wait a full two hours for Roxas. It's not like they were even really friends. Roxas pulled the dirty apron and pink shirt over his head all in one motion and shoved them into his bag. Replaced them with a light cotton shirt, and slammed the door behind him. At least he had the next day off. That was something to look forward to, he told himself.

Opening the door to outside was like walking into a a wall of heat and humidity, even worse than the mall had been, and Roxas paused, trying to get used to it. It had stopped raining, but there was still a heaviness to the air. It made the smell of tobacco smoke thicker in the air.

"I was beginning to think you'd stood me up."

Roxas turned, to where Axel stood leaning against the wall, mouth in a wry smile. He crushed the cigarette butt against the wall.

"Ah, sorry. I didn't think you were still waiting. It—it got busy. You know how it is."

Axel nodded. "Yeah. Uh, so, are you hungry?" He was looking at the ground where his crushed cigarette lay, with half a dozen others.

Roxas felt warm in a way that had nothing to do with the weather. "Yeah."

"Cool. I've got a craving for pancakes. IHOP? I'll buy."

"Is this—is this a date?" The words came out in a rush and Roxas bit his lip. "If it's not—"

Axel finally looked up from the cigarette butts. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess you could call it a date." He offered a tentative smile. "If that's ok."

Roxas's cheeks hurt from how wide he was grinning, suddenly. "I love pancakes."


End file.
